Last week, CBRE’s Drew Neiman and Joe Parrott spoke at the Illinois Real Estate Journal’s 14th Annual CRE Forecast. One of the year’s biggest industry events, more than 900 professionals attended the conference at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago.Neiman led the discussion focused on “The Great Urban Migration,” a trend that has been prevalent in Chicago for several years now.

According to Neiman, the downtown market has benefited considerably from out-of-area companies moving to the CBD for better access to talent.

“Since 2008, we have close to 44 million square feet of users coming to the CBD from the suburbs or out-of-state,” Neiman said.

He pointed out that 2015 continued this trend, as it closed with 1.4 million square feet of positive absorption, a very strong number. The activity was driven by major moves to the CBD from suburban firms and the growth of the local tech sector.

“All of this activity has led to new Class A plus construction,” he said. “Two towers will be delivering in 2017 and are already 75 percent leased. There is clear demand for this product in Chicago.”

Joe Parrott spoke on the retail panel, which focused on the increased activity of the retail market in the Chicago area.